Design and Analysis of a High-Gain Step-Up/Down Modular DC–DC Converter with Continuous Input Current and Decreased Voltage Stress on Power Switches and Switched-Capacitors

• Main Authors: Maysam Abbasi, Ehsan Abbasi, Li Li, Behrouz Tousi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2021-05-01
• Series: Sustainability
• Subjects: DC–DC converter; step-up/down; high voltage gain; low voltage stress on components; renewable energy source applications; HVDC system
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/9/5243

Due to concerns, such as global warming and depletion of fossil fuels, countries are forced to integrate energy storage devices (ESSs) and renewable energy sources (RESs), such as photovoltaic (PV) systems, wind turbines and fuel cells, into their power networks. Here, a new high gain DC–DC converter with step-up/down ability is proposed for modern applications. Since this converter provides high variable voltage gain, it can be employed for output voltage regulation purposes in RESs such as solar panels. Additionally, this converter provides a remarkable reduction in voltage stress on the switched capacitors and power switches. Due to its modular structure obtained by employing switched-capacitors (SCs), it is possible for this topology to gain a very high voltage conversion ratio using low duty-cycles produced by a simple and straightforward control system. To be specific, the more the number of SC cells increase, the more the output voltage increases. The proposed converter has a continuous input current allowing to extract the maximum power from RESs like PV panels. It should be noted that the application of this converter is not limited to the aforementioned ones since it can be used in various applications needing high voltage gains such as generating the desired voltage level in high voltage direct current (HVDC) systems especially their transmission lines. For validating the performance of the proposed structure, comprehensive comparisons and experimental results are presented.